Campaign for Labour Party Democracy

Equal rights for CLPs go to model resolution

The Millbank Tendency frequently denigrates resolutions. They prefer gatherings which split into workshops or which ask questions of ministerial celebrities. But the advantage of resolution-based meetings is that they take decisions. However great the feelgood factor of participating in a workshop or quizzing a Cabinet minister, the views which members express vanish into thin air. This suits the leadership down to the ground. If the Party outside the sacred portals of No.10 merely has discussions and never takes decisions, this gives the Prime Minister total freedom to choose all the Party’s policies.

Labour Party Conference used to be a resolutions-based conference, but New Labour changed all that. Under the 1997 Partnership in Power reforms, CLPs and affiliated organisations are invited to submit to Conference resolutions on issues of contemporary concern, yet only four policy issues are debated. These are chosen by a Priorities Ballot. If last year’s Conference is anything to go by, the choice will be made by leaders of major unions. Although CLPs have 50% of the vote in the ballot, and affiliated organisations have the remaining 50%, the vote of trade unions is highly concentrated. There are few of them, whereas there are 630+ CLPs. This made it irresistible for the unions to meet together and decide which four topics they’ll opt for. Thus CLPs were carved out. Important issues were denied an airing, for example the tackling of racist violence, the representation of women within the Party, dissatisfaction with the policy-making process and the demand that CLPs should be free to select the Labour candidate of their choice.

Our resolution proposes equality between trade unions and CLPs. Affiliated organisations should be allowed to choose 4 topics for debate, and CLPs should also be given 4. Not only would this heal the rift between trade unions and CLPs by providing for parity. It would also reverse the growing depoliticisation of Conference.

Model resolution

"This Conference welcomes the decision of the 1997 Conference allowing CLPs and affiliated organisations to submit and debate motions on issues of contemporary concern (1999 Rule book,3C2.3). It regrets, however, that last year time was only found to debate four such issues.

Conference further regrets that the choice of these resolutions was determined by a priorities ballot involving delegates of both, CLPs and affiliated organisations. In practice this meant that voting power was concentrated in the hands of a few major trade unions who voted together, whilst the CLPs' vote was widely dispersed among some 600 of them. Subjects of particular concern to CLPs were therefore not chosen. Thus under the procedures adopted in 1998, CLPs, despite commanding half the conference votes, were in effect disfranchised.

Conference notes that the TGWU (EPIU) and several CLPs have submitted constitutional amendments on this subject. They provide that at future Conferences at least 8 priority issues will be time-tabled, 4 chosen by CLPs and 4 by affiliated organisations.

Conference instructs the NEC to treat this matter as one of immediate importance and instructs the Conference Arrangements Committee to time-table these constitutional amendments at the 1999 Conference so that the unfairness faced by the CLPs can be rectified."

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